Church ponders forgiveness and reflects massacre

A decade after the church massacre, forgiveness and reflections simmer

Black parishioners were gunned down. Grim survivors gawk at the bloody carnage and the deep grief. A president sings “Amazing Grace.”

Ten years later, the grief lingers.

Melvin Graham sat on the right of the arena with other families and listened as Barack Obama read the names of the nine churchgoers who were killed by a White supremacist at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.

He heard Obama call the name of his younger sister, Cynthia Graham Hurd.

That was emotional enough. But at one point, the then-president broke out singing, “Amazing Grace.’’ Pastors, families, choir members joined in.

“That’s one of those moments when you just wanted to break out and cry,’’ recalled Graham, who had heard and sung the hymn plenty times over the years. “Not in the context of having lost a loved one.’’

The shooting 10 years ago at Emanuel AME Church, a historic Black church also known as “Mother Emanuel," shocked the nation. Members− including Cynthia, a librarian − were at Bible study that June 17 evening when a White man they had welcomed later fatally shot nine of them. Five others survived.

Some family members called Obama's presence days later at a funeral service and his rendition of the hymn a poignant moment as the country grappled with the horror of people gunned down in church.

“Even though this happened to Black people in a church… It felt like that sent a message of 'This could happen to anybody,' '' said Rev. Sharon Risher, whose mother, Ethel Lee Lance, was among the Emanuel Nine. "The sympathy from the country was overwhelming.”

The nation was also gripped by some of the families publicly forgiving the shooter. But in the decade since the massacre, the families and others have been troubled by other deadly attacks against people because of their race, ethnicity or faith. And while they continue to demand justice for loved ones they lost, they also call for more efforts to prevent gun violence and to end divisions plaguing the country. Families and community leaders hope commemorating the 10th anniversary will lead to more action.

To mark the anniversary, Mother Emanuel will host a series of events, including a service June 17, during what it called “Acts of Amazing Grace Month.’’

The Graham family held a memorial service June 12 for Cynthia at the church, followed by a town hall meeting, ”The Way Forward,” to discuss efforts to heal and take action a decade later.

“It is a moment for us to move from mourning to commemoration,’’ Tonya Matthews, president and CEO of the International African American Museum in Charleston, told USA TODAY. “But that move comes with the real responsibility, and we’ve got to ask: So, what now? We have a moral obligation to do more than remember that moment – we must learn from it and use those lessons of history to inform our future.’’